The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest Part 10

The arrival of Helen, Mary, Louise, and Julia completed the group, and presently a summer session of the True Treds was under way.

To the newcomers at Sea Crest the whole situation was explained, and nothing short of consternation followed its recital.

"Do you mean to say no one knows this girl?" asked Helen.

"No one we can find," replied Louise. "You see the whole town moves away when the summer folks come, all but the cleaners and the store keepers; and we didn't like to ask any of them."

"I'm sure Captain Dave must know this girl," declared Grace. "I'm going down to the station this very afternoon and have a talk with him."

"Saw him go out to Bright.w.a.ter in a motor boat this morning," Louise said.

"Well, we simply have got to keep up our troop tactics until we run this down," declared Cleo. "Think of her saying we tried to drown the boy!"

"And she called him Bentley. That's rather a pretty name. He surely doesn't belong to her cla.s.s," said Grace.

"But he too is odd, we must admit," resumed Louise, "and he had the very same kind of paper we found in the bottle."

"And his boat was covered with it," added Grace.

"But you really don't think he could be malicious enough to start fires?" asked Julia.

"I don't know," replied Grace. "They always say book-worms are queer, and surely he is a book-worm, if there ever was one."

"I propose taking a trip to that Looney Island," said Louise directly.

"I'd love to," followed Cleo; "but what about Captain Dave's warning?"

"What did he say?" inquired Mary.

"Why, he told us this Luna Island or Looney Land as the children call it, was a very good place to keep away from."

"Did he say why?" asked Helen.

"No; just hinted that children always feared to go over there, and he considers children the natural judges of danger. We know better. Here we are mere kiddies, and we are not a bit afraid," and she laughed at the idea.

"In fact, we are just dying to go. How do you get there?" This from Margaret.

"Take the launch to the point, then hire a boat and row over to the island. We saw 'the girl' do it. It's only a short distance."

"Sounds alluring," said Mary, who was now a splendidly healthy little girl, quite unlike the timid creature discovered by the girls in our second volume, "The Girl Scouts at Bellaire."

"You are almost chubby, Mary," remarked Grace. "I suppose you had a wonderful winter in the South with your folks."

"Oh yes, wonderful," replied Mary. "But I would rather have been to school in New York with you girls. Perhaps next fall I can enter with you."

"So it is all decided," prompted Helen. "We are to go to your Looney Land and capture the lunes. I wonder if we had not better bring a few brothers along?"

"As scouts we scorn a body guard!" replied Louise, "although it might be well to leave a lookout over at the point."

"When do we set out?" asked Julia, now as keen as her companions on the perilous expedition.

"That must depend on the weather," said Cleo. "We can't brave the waters with overhung skies. If I'm not mistaken I hear thunder this minute."

"Bring your wheels in," cautioned Grace. "Benny will put them in the garage. There! That surely sounded near by."

In the cyclonic way storms have of gathering near the ocean, clouds tumbled over clouds, piling mountains high, then dipping down in veritable spouts ready to empty their weight of water on the shrinking earth. The weather had been just warm enough to precipitate this sort of shower, and before the first drops fell people scurried for shelter, deserting piers, and board walk, as if swept away by the reckless west wind.

The Girl Scouts stayed on the porch until the lightning frightened them inside Rosabell cottage, then from the windows watched the vagaries of the summer storm.

A sudden blinding flash of lightning and its immediate clap of thunder drove the girls from the window.

"Oh!" shouted more than one. "Wasn't that awful!"

"Listen!" as a gong sounded. "The fire bell!" cried Grace. "Get your coats; see the crowd over there! Let's run."

Without a thought of the down-pouring rain, the Girl Scouts, garbed in such protective garments as they could s.n.a.t.c.h from the clothes-tree in the hall of Rosabell, raced over to cover the short distance to the pavilion, where the crowd was seen to gather from all directions.

"What was struck?" Cleo asked a boy, who was trying to outdistance the bright red fire engine.

"The pier, I guess," he replied, dashing on merrily at the prospect of some real excitement.

A light film of smoke could now be seen steaming up through the rain at the end of the pier. But it was not likely a fire could make much headway in that downpour. The girls watched the rather primitive fire apparatus, with keen interest. Crowds of boys, numbers of men, and a scattering of girls and children, made the scene quite a lively one, to say nothing of the shouting of the volunteer firemen--the only grade that is allowed to shout at a fire. A line of hose was soon dragged out to the end of the pier, and almost before the happy urchins realized it the fire was out, back taps sounded from the tower in the village, and the fun was over.

After the crowd had dispersed and the shower was entirely over, the girls walked down the pier to inspect the damage. On one of the benches near the end, an old man sat huddled alone, his fishing rod was at his feet, and his basket was beside him on the bench. As they approached he stood up, then sank down again unable to keep to his feet.

"He must have been out here when the lightning struck," said Louise.

"The poor old man!"

They came up to him and he smiled feebly.

"That was a big shower," said Helen by way of introduction.

"Mighty heavy, mighty heavy," he answered, his words short and his voice very low.

"Were you out here then?" asked Grace, beginning to realize that the old man must have been stunned.

"Yes, and--it near--finished me," he replied, again trying to stand but ending by sinking back on the bench, heavier than before.

"Oh, you poor old man!" said Julia. "We must help you home. Where do you live?"

"Couldn't help me home," he replied with a sigh. "I have a long walk along the sand, and then the boat. Don't see how I'm going to make it though. That flash just did me up," and he stooped to gather his fishing things that had evidently been scattered when the hose was run down the pier.

"Where do you live?" again asked Louise. "No matter how far away it is we can help you. We can take you in a car."

"No cars go out that way," said the fisherman, mistaking Louise's meaning.

"Oh, we mean in an automobile," she corrected. "Let us see if you can't lean on some of us while the others go for a car. We will be glad to help you," she insisted, feeling the Girl Scout pledge surge over her.